YOU NEED TO COVER THIS ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT....
FROM THE VENTURA COUNTY STAR
Most parents of a fire-breathing, Harley-Davidson-riding 16-year-old would be terrified, but Lisa Cantrell of Oxnard not only supports her son's hair-raising activities, she encourages him.

And she's in his corner now, too, as Evan Cantrell decorates his family's Ivywood Drive home for his annual Halloween fright show.

The Cantrell family has been staging its no-holds-barred Halloween bash for at least 10 years, although it has grown more elaborate with each passing year.

"This year, it's a haunted hotel porch theme," Evan said as he gestured to the wooden wall that he's built from old fence lumber.

"There are a lot of women and almost no men. Well, except for that guy there," he said, gesturing to the side of the yard where a jerking, fake-blood-spattered dummy hangs by a noose. "It looks like it's the wives with the husband hanging," he said.

Evan said he first started his love affair with horror-themed Halloween decorations when he was a boy. "When I was 8 years old, I went to the old Oxnard High School haunted house. One of the people said, Do you want to work here?' and I said Yes,'" Evan recalled.

He said he sketches out his idea first and measures out the small, plant-lined yard. He pointed to his mom's carefully cultivated flower garden that frames the house — and is now hidden behind the much more grim scene that he has been building over the past month.

Hey, it's not like he doesn't warn her. "I tell her, When Sept. 15 comes, it's gone,'" Evan said.

Evan credits his mom's fiancé, Fred Worth, whom Evan refers to as his stepfather, for getting him interested in Harley-Davidson motorcycles, one of which is parked by the curb on the street, at the moment with two skeletal riders perched on the back.

"That's a 1972 custom Harley that I'm restoring," Evan said. "I ride a 2002 Harley."

Lisa Cantrell supports his wild side, but she said she keeps an eye out for her son.

"If I didn't think he could handle it, he wouldn't be doing it," she said. "He's very mature for his age."

A junior at Oxnard High School, he is scheduled to graduate in June, a year early.

In addition, he already is a businessman, running his own Polynesian fire knife dancing company, Fire of the Pacific, which performs around the area.

"A friend in Hawaii turned me on to it and did a show," Evan said. "I taught myself how to do it, and now I run a group with hula dancers."

Sitting at the Halloween tablecloth-covered dining room table recently, with ghosts suspended from a ceiling fan flying overhead, Cantrell laughed at the suggestions that most parents might not approve of a kid who rides motorcycles and plays with fire.

"Some people would say I'm crazy letting a 16-year-old ride a Harley. But Fred has put him through all the courses. And I know he doesn't do drugs and doesn't drink," she said.

Evan said he's too busy to party between practicing his fire-knife dancing and riding his motorcycle.

"I have small barbecues with about five or so people. We have tri-tip, crab, cole slaw and a big bonfire in the backyard," he said.

Cantrell said she's proud of her entire family — including Evan's twin sister Emily and older sister Nicole, and Fred's son Tyler Worth, who also lives with them — and she has a special place in her heart for Evan's Halloween obsession.

It is, in fact, a like-mother, like-son thing: "I've always been way, way into Halloween; I'm a crafty person," she said as she pointed out the many Halloween decorations around the house.

Evan said neighbors have complained because hundreds of people come by to see the display, but the smaller children often are too scared to take any candy.

"The neighbors say they have to give away so much candy because of this and we don't give away any," Cantrell said.

This year, she said, the family plans to post signs warning that the display — which will include a chainsaw-wielding madman, a machete-holding animatronic statue and a blood-spouting youngster — is not suitable for young children.

Evan said he's planning a special pre-Halloween horror show with fire breathers, music and costumes the night of Oct. 24.

"Little kids screaming is like music to my ears," he said, joking.

Best viewed after dark, the Halloween display is up through Halloween night at 1000 Ivywood Drive, between Lakehurst and North H streets.